Good things come in small packages, which is a tried-and-truism when it comes to microlearning and compliance training.
This is not one of these metaphysical situations like: How many blog articles can you fit on the head of a pin? It just makes sense. There is often a natural resistance to being told we have to comply with something whether it’s for our own good or not. Our defences rise against information that is forced down our windpipe, like compliance training.
Chunk your information for a tastier eLearning product
Some employees or new recruits may be so flushed with their new job, however, that they may overlook an eLearning module that tells them they have to stack perishable items like grapes on top of, and not under, watermelons. Okay, this may be overstating the case and compliance training often meets legal and safety obligations like having to wear protective gear when you replace radioactive fuel rods. Or working on a construction site or a mine where safety can literally save your life. Or not prescribing the wrong combination of drugs if you’re a GP or a pharmacist.
So, let’s ask the question: How much compliance training can you take in one sitting? It turns out that we learn best when the information is doled out in small portions and space repetition helps. We absorb information better. Especially if the “have to learn” subjects involve interactive or gamified elements.
Let’s provide an example. You are trying to teach your apprentices that when working around electricity they have to make sure it is turned: OFF!!!!! If you have someone on staff who likes to make cartoons in their spare time, you can create a character named Zappo who comes to work in thongs and works around puddles of water and forgets to turn of the main switch. Your mind can fill in the blanks.
Or take this real world example. A petrol truck driver is at a station filling up the petrol reservoirs while other people are filling up their cars. All it takes is one spark from a patron and….kaboom! National headlines. This driver and the petrol station owner forgot to block off the pumps during the filling operation. Probably just on this side of legal, but an obvious accident waiting to happen. Compliance training is the answer.
And you can have one microlearning module, lasting ten minutes max, to cover each learning objective: like not blowing up your customers or electrocuting your employees.
When designing compliance training–think micromanagement of information.